Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, Office of

Note: Most recent estimates as of 01/22/08.

Mission

The mission of the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) is to improve the lives of New Yorkers by leading a premier system of services for addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery.

Budget Highlights

The 2008-09 Executive Budget recommends over $748 million All Funds (including $151M General Fund; $597M Other Funds) for OASAS to continue agency and community operations, including the full operation of its 13 ATCs. This funding is supplemented by Federal and State resources budgeted in other State agencies, and by the contributions of local governments, voluntary agencies and other sources. Overall, the recommended budget increases $91 million from 2007-08, which is largely attributable to technical adjustments associated with a major restructuring of Medicaid resources designed to improve transparency in the budget. Excluding such technical adjustments, the increase over 2007-08 is $63 million, of which nearly $30 million is due to employee fringe benefits now budgeted in OASAS. The remaining net change primarily reflects the annualization of prior year initiatives, savings associated with program efficiencies, and targeted investments, as outlined below.

In 2008-09, OASAS will have a workforce of 1,010, of which nearly 60 percent provide an array of clinical treatment services through the ATCs. This represents an increase of 20 FTEs over 2007-08, primarily due to enhanced clinical services in the ATCs and increased administrative oversight of the OASAS Service System.

• Eliminating Unnecessary Spending and Non-Critical Programs. By collaborating with the Office of the State Medicaid Inspector General and the Department of Health (DOH) in the area of Medicaid regulatory compliance and enforcement, OASAS will save an additional $10 million in wasteful, inappropriate or unnecessary spending in DOH’s budget. Further, annual savings of $1 million will be realized by improving provider performance reviews.

• Identifying State Operations Efficiencies. OASAS will also achieve $2.6 million in savings by maintaining strict controls on hiring and engaging in such creative management strategies as shared services, energy efficiencies and exploring bulk information technology purchasing with other agencies.

• Reforming Services to High-Cost Populations. The 2008-09 recommendation provides $1.5 million - annualizing to $3 million - to help OASAS expand intensive care coordination initiatives with the Office of Mental Health, DOH and other stakeholders to improve patient care and outcomes, particularly for individuals with both mental illness and chemical dependence, with the establishment of a co-occurring disorders program and the addition of three county-based Dual Diagnosis Coordinators. For the State-operated service system, new resources will permit OASAS to replicate a successful swing bed detoxification program at its Ward ATC, as well as enhance necessary clinical staffing to address more complex client needs at its ATCs. In conjunction with the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA), OASAS will also explore opportunities to streamline processes and funding associated with the provision of chemical dependence treatment services to public assistance recipients in OASAS-certified residential facilities.

• Reforming Detoxification Services. OASAS will continue to collaborate with DOH, other State agencies and service providers to redesign the delivery of detoxification services to promote recovery and better integrate reimbursement with outcomes. One goal is to strengthen the ability of community-based detoxification providers to deal with less complicated detoxification episodes.

• Enhancing Community-Based Services. OASAS will develop 21 community recovery centers statewide over the next three years - at a full annualized cost of $2.7 million - to help persons in recovery and their families with emotional counseling, as well as information, recreation and other social supports to break the addiction cycle and maintain sobriety. In addition, the 2008-09 recommendation permits OASAS to address unmet residential need by providing operating support to establish 125 scattered site apartments with case management services and capital funds to develop 120 community residential and supportive livings beds. Lastly, the Budget supports the expansion of Compulsive Gambling Prevention programs to an additional 18 counties in 2008-09 and an additional 19 counties in 2009-10, that when fully annualized will cost $2.3 million.

• Improving Program Outcomes and Oversight. Eleven additional State staff are recommended to support the agency in a variety of areas, including new residential program expansion, Compulsive Gambling Prevention expansion, enhancing its program evaluation capabilities and establishing a multi-year program to develop and deliver training programs to enhance the competencies of professionals in the addictions and compulsive gambling fields.

The recommendation also continues to fund several prior year priorities and, therefore, fully supports the third year of a three-year cost of living adjustment (COLA) tied to the Consumer Price Index for existing funded providers of chemical dependence and compulsive gambling services. This COLA will be used by OASAS to enhance funding by about $12 million in 2008-09 for localities and not-for-profit providers to strengthen efforts to recruit and retain qualified direct care and clinical staff and respond to other inflationary pressures. Most importantly, this Budget also extends the COLA for another three years through March 31, 2012, to continue efforts to address recruitment and retention issues and provide relief for escalating energy, pharmaceutical, insurance, and utility costs.

In addition, the Executive Budget recognizes that preserving the infrastructure of the current statewide service network is critical and therefore continues an investment of $120 million in bonded capital funds over the next several years to either relocate or extensively renovate existing chemical dependence treatment programs, whose aging infrastructure results in the inefficient delivery of treatment services and jeopardizes the health and safety of clients and staff.

2008-09 Executive Budget — Agency Presentation
Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, Office of (PDF)